


Winter's Grasp

by FoolocracyFunForFools



Category: Laramie (TV)
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Jesse POV, SLim POV, Slim and Jesse are best friends, Slim& Jess POV, there is violence but not too graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-21 12:41:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 15,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30021939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FoolocracyFunForFools/pseuds/FoolocracyFunForFools
Summary: It's now or never so when I hear the footsteps come one step closer, I spring out from behind the boulder and shoot. He's dead. I killed him. no profit made or money made off of this story.
Relationships: Completely platonic relationship, Slim & Jesse, they are like brothers
Comments: 2





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My beta's for this story were Saddletramp and Nakoosay on fanfiction.com

Gunshots ring out as I slide on the wet, semi-frozen grass to take cover behind a boulder. I back up against the rock and wait until the gun stops firing at me. Finally, the shots stop, and I sneak a peek over the top of the boulder. Bad move because as soon as the top of my hat is showing a bullet narrowly misses me.

It's bad this time. Really bad. I don't know how I got myself into this mess, but it might be the worst I have ever gotten into. I crouch lower and check my gun making sure I have enough bullets left. I can hear his footsteps as it rained long and hard last night and, with the temperature drop, the grass is now beginning to freeze.

Not that I didn't know it had rained. I had to sleep on the ground in the freezing rain last night. No campfire, no warmth, and there aren't caves around here to take shelter in for miles. My clothes are soaked through and they seem to stick to my very bones, hindering my every movement. But that's what happens when you're soaked, freezing, out in the middle of Heaven knows where, and it's the dead of winter to boot. Thank goodness that it didn't snow.

The footsteps are almost upon me and my fingers are starting to tremble a bit. I almost don't notice though because I had lost feeling in my hands after a couple of hours in the rain last night. It's now or never so when I hear the footsteps come one step closer, I spring out from behind the boulder and shoot.

I hit him dead center in the chest and as blood starts to show where the bullet entered his body, he drops his gun and falls backwards onto the freezing cold, grass. He's dead. I killed him.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics are flashback

Slim's POV

It all started with Jess Harper, my partner. I work my ranch with him, and everything was going smooth, until about a week and a half ago. I had to send Jess away on ranch business for a week.

_So, I stood out in the rapidly turning colder weather and waved goodbye as he rolled away on the afternoon stagecoach. If Jess knew what was going to happen next, he would have never left. Dad-gum if I knew the mess that was going to happen, I would have left with him on the stage._

_But he didn't know and neither did I. Two days later the stagecoach rolled up outside my house and I went out to change the horses. I got halfway through when a stranger on the stagecoach tells me that he heard that he could find Jess Harper working here. I finished coupling the horses and strolled over to the man in the coach. He had a black mustache that drooped over his thin upper lip and a piercing gaze from beneath his hat. He wasn't well-dressed, but he also wasn't poorly dressed, and dust ridden either. Somewhere in between the two I would have said._

_I asked him who's asking, and he told me that he is an old friend of Jess's. I don't believe him because of the few times Jess told me about his past he didn't have friends. So, I told him that he is away on business. The stranger gave me a narrowed, piercing glare and asked when Jess was supposed to return. I shrugged and said sometime this month. Eyes still angry but voice calm, he thanked me, and the stage rolled away into town._

_That man's look of pure anger was enough to send major warning bells off in my mind, so_ _the next day_ _I went into town and saw Mort Cory, our sheriff. I described the guy, and we went through the wanted posters just in case he was a fugitive. No luck. Mort told me that he had seen the man staying at the hotel and would keep an eye on him. I thanked him and stopping by the general store picked up a few needed supplies. Then I got back in the wagon and clicking to the horses left for the ranch. It was as simple as that. Mort was going to keep an eye on the mystery man for me and that left me free to stay at the ranch. Piece of pie, right?_

_Wrong._

I stare at the body on the ground in front of me. I've seen many men killed and have killed several myself in the war. But the feeling I get whenever I look at a dead body never diminishes. I feel sick. I holster my gun and start looking around for a decent spot to bury him. I really don't have the time to bury him, but my conscious is screaming at me that it's the least I could do.

It was self-defense and I know I had no choice-but that doesn't make it any easier. Everything has changed now. My entire world is upside-down and I'm not sure if I can fix it.


	3. Chapter 3

My body feels frozen and I don't know what to do. I don't have the tools to bury him and I don't know if I can carry him as I try to find some sort of shelter before night fall. Dang it! I shake my head in frustration as I try to think of what to do. The only thing I can come up with and I'm still not quite sure about is to find some rocks and cover him that way. I'll make sure and mark the spot with something so if I survive, I can come back with the sheriff and we can bury him proper.

I look around trying to figure out where I am, but the wind is picking up again and my eyes are watering up so I can't really see much of anything. I sit down and stare at the body in front of me then my head jerks forward as I sneeze. - I look up at the sky and see that storm clouds are moving in fast. Whatever I am going to do, I have to make my mind up fast.

By how fast the dark and potentially snow threatening clouds are moving they will be upon me before I know it. I can't spend another night out in the open. If I do, I will freeze to death. My clothes have frozen more than dried and if I tried to peel the material off my body, I think my skin would come off with it. I get up slightly unsteadily and go over to the dead man. I crouch down and look with sorrow filled eyes at what the man had forced me to do.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to shoot you but what was I supposed to do? You can't just kidnap someone and expect them not to fight for their life."

I grimace as I have made my mind up. It is the only decent thing to do even if I have to suffer the consequences. I look around but don't see anything that would be significant enough to remember this place from a million different exact same places. I didn't want to, but I decide that I will have to carry him after all until I reach someplace that I can recognize and come back to.

I heave him forward until his head is hanging above his knees and I hoist him over my shoulder. I put one hand on the boulder, which luckily had saved me from the dead man's bullets, and the other making sure he doesn't fall off and I push myself up. I look around one last time then start trudging slowly North; Or in my semi frozen condition, what I think is North. How I wish I had been able to get my horse when I broke free, but I had tripped on a branch and the noise had awakened the then alive and now dead man whom I carry wearily.

As I start to slowly walk with my heavy burden upon my cold and weary shoulders. My mind goes back once again to when the trouble started to crop up. Trouble that started with that black mustached man and him spreading rumors around town about Jess. Just thinking about what he said is starting to make my blood boil.

_It had been a day after I had gotten back from town and from making sure the mustached stranger wasn't a wanted criminal when the morning stage rolled up outside. I opened the front door and waved hi to the driver before going to the corral and getting the horses for the stage. I was in the middle of changing the teams when Mose, the stagecoach driver and a very old friend, hopped down from the stage and stood silently while I finished harnessing the horses to the stagecoach._

_I straightened up and saw Mose. Mose walked away from the stage and motioned for me to come with him. I was puzzled but silent and walked to the porch where Moe now stood. He was a slightly older man with short brown hair and just a tinge of gray seeping in. "Slim have you been in town recently?" Mose asked his voice urgent and his eyes kept darting back to the ready stage and the stirring people within it._

_"I went yesterday why Mose?"_

_"There's a man in town spreading all sorts of awful stuff around about Jess."_

_"What kind of stuff Mose?"_

_Mose's eyes darted back to the stagecoach and he heaved a sigh before turning his sight back on me and saying "I can't tell you right now Slim. I got to get the stage rolling again because we're already running late but I would go into town and make sure that… that flimsy mustached hog faced liar of a man stops his spewing and shuts his mouth up real tight." Mose's voice sputtered with indignation as he recalled what the man had said about Jess. Mose had thrown me an apologetic look before heading back to the stagecoach and I had almost smiled at how bad Mose wanted to tell me everything._

_I nodded alright and I called after Mose as he started towards the stage "What's his name?"_

_Mose climbed up on the stage taking his position and hollered back "His name is Mike. Mike Capstone and he's got a mustache- black I think- and real mean looking in his eyes."_

_With that Mose cracked the reins above the backs of the horses and the stage rolled away. I was left standing there for a minute before I decided to go into town after the last stage and see just what this black mustached Mike was saying about Jess._

My features contort as I sneeze again and again and again. I must find shelter fast or I might not make it through the freezing night.


	4. Chapter 4

Slim POV

If I my face wasn't almost complete frozen, I would smile at how much I wish I had been able to get my horse from my kidnapper. A horse right about now would be extremely helpful. I don't think I have ever wanted something so bad before in my life. I shake my head as my mind wanders to a warm place in my mind and I can feel myself getting sleepy. I trip over something and catch myself just in time. I shake my head and look up at the sky to clear my mind.

The snow has started to fall. Darn it all, I thought I was freezing before but this is so much worse. The body is starting to slip again and this time I can't stop it. He falls with a thud to the lightly snowed ground and I stop, utterly exhausted. I can't carry him any longer. Suddenly I hear the sweetest and the terrifying sound I have ever heard in my life. The sound of hoof beats nearby and coming in this direction. I know it could be the kidnapper's gang but there is the possibility that it could be my rescuer. I decide to take the risk.

I start to pour the last bit of energy I have into running and yelling with a hoarse voice "Hey! Stop! Hey!" I am so concentrated on making sure the rider saw me that I didn't notice the rock in my way. I trip over it and one minute I see snow falling, the beginning shape of a horse then snow-covered dirt and darkness.

I fade in and out shapes, flitting in front of my eyes. I hear someone dismounting- it seems so far away. Every time I blink the world spins and tilts, making my stomach want to give up what is does not have. The boots come closer and the sound of snow crunching crisply fills my ears. - I try to move but I'm frozen.

A sudden horrible thought fills my mind as the boots stop right by my face and the wearer squats in front of me. What if it was one of the gang of men that I'm trying to stop? I knew what at the risk was when I attracted their attention, but the cold reality was setting in and I realize that I may not have been truly prepared for the possibility that it was one of the bad guys.

With that horrifying thought in my mind I try to rise to get away. But the darkness calls out to me once again and what little vision I have dissolves into black waves of unconsciousness.


	5. Chapter 5

Slim POV

Sounds, noises, a voice that sounded like a squeaky floorboard bombards my ears and my brain felt like it was stuck. My ear drums pop and explode with the noise before the noises go far away and become faint and then coming roaring back. A sudden jolting to my body leaves me breathless and a fierce pain in my chest. Exquisite silence envelopes me and I start to go over what happened before I got taken and am now wherever I am.

_After the stagecoach left and after hours of Mose's words incessantly ringing in my ears I tried to finish my paperwork. Irritated, angry, and confused I decided it was time to make dinner for myself. I got up from my desk where my work was scattered. Getting up, I stretched and grimaced when I heard my back crack. Heading to the kitchen I wished Jess were back._

_I might be a slightly prideful man when it comes to my work and my family, but no amount of pride could mask that my cooking isn't very good. Actually, and I chuckle aloud as think this, I must agree with Jess that my cooking is barely edible. Thankfully, cooking is not my only skill. If it were, me and Andy (my little brother) would have starved a long time ago._

_I cooked my supper and while it simmered on the stove, I moved away from it to get the dishes necessary to eat. As I passed by the window, a movement outside the house caught my eye. I put the dishes gently down on the table and froze, waiting to see if it was just my imagination or if someone was outside in the darkening evening. A minute passed by and I finally relaxed, letting my body slowly uncoil from the rigidness I had while I waited. It was nothing I told myself, but just to be sure I went outside and checked around the house, the barn, and the corrals._

_There was nothing there showing someone had been outside the house. Going back inside I chided myself for being so silly. Of course, no one was outside. I was just jumpy because I was worried about what Mose had said. Dad-gum it what Mose said. That confounded man had my head spinning, and I wasn't sure which way was up anymore. I calmed down though as I washed the dishes. It wasn't Mose's fault, I reminded myself, he was just telling me what he heard._

_The dishes done, I headed out of the house and to the barn to saddle my horse. Riding through town, I decided to check in with Mort to see just what the man on the stagecoach had been saying about Jess. I pulled up short of the Sheriff's office and swinging my leg over my chestnut-colored horse, I climbed down. I wrapped the reins loosely around one of the poles of the building and stepped up onto the wooden sidewalk._

_Striding to the door I was almost run down as a rather dirty looking man barged out of Mort's office and almost into me. His clothes weren't tattered, but they had certainly seen some hard use and tons of dust and grime seemed to cling to him. His boots were scuff marked, but looked rather new underneath the grime. He had a brown hat sitting low over his face and his gun belt was slung low on his hips. Most people were righthanded, so it was unusual to see someone with their gun belt slung that had its gun holster tied onto their left leg._

_He grunted an apology, almost ran all the way across the dirt street and to the bar on the other side. Shaking my head at what I had just seen, I strode into Mort's office through the still wide-open door._

_He was sitting behind his desk, his papers in neat little stacks, not scattered like mine. His black and slight graying hair lay slicked back, his hat hung on the back of his chair precariously, and his face had about a day's worth of stubble. He looked up from writing as I closed the door gently. His face brightened and smiled when he saw it was me. Then, his face lost its smile and it darkened as if he could sense why I had come._

_Mort had always been like that. It was like he could sense what you were thinking before you thought it. He is one of mine and Jess's closest friends. He sat there and leaned back in his chair as I walked over and sat down in one of the two empty chairs sitting in front of his worn desk. Mort's sheriff's badge was only slightly shiny, and his clothes were rumpled like he had slept in them._

_"Well Slim I guess this isn't a social visit because Jess is away on business is it?" Mort sounded tired._

_"No, Mort it isn't. I was changing the afternoon stage horses and Mose told me a black mustached man was bad talking Jess in town."_

_"Yeah Slim, he has been. His name is…" I cut Mort off before he could finish._

_"Mike Capstone. Yeah, Mose told me. What did he say Mort?"_

_Mort moved his body forward and putting his elbows on his desk scrubbed his tired face with both hands._

_"Slim, what he said doesn't matter…"_

_"Mort don't tell me it doesn't matter. It obviously does matter if Mose told me to go to town and it sure as heck matters what this dirt bag is throwing around town about my partner." I knew I was starting to sound mad and I was mad, just not at Mort._

_"Slim…" Mort stopped and collected his thoughts before he spoke again. "He said some pretty outrageous stuff Slim. Basically, what he said about Jess was that he was a backstabber, a liar, and someone who preyed upon innocent victims twisting them to do whatever he wanted them to do. He said… He said that he met you Slim, and that you had that look that other victims of Jess's had._

_"That Jess had weaseled himself into your life to take advantage of your generosity and your trust. He said that you were so stupid and foolish that Jess was able to manipulate you into being his friend and protecting him."_

_"Why didn't you stop him Mort?"_

_"Son, don't you think I tried? I might not be as close to Jess as you are but I sure as heck know him well enough that he is none of those things and neither are you." Mort heaved a deep sigh of frustration and he ran his hand through his hair as he continued. "I gave you the light version Slim. People were listening to this man Slim, and he wasn't breaking the law. So, I told him Jess and you were my friends and if he continued to bad mouth you boys, I would run him out of town._

_"He was in the bar half the night and so was I. I swear to you Slim, I stayed there until he left town and I made sure he didn't talk about you or Jess. But the damage was done Slim. He had been in the bar long enough that he has at least half the town believing his lies." Mort finished and leaned back in chair rubbing his hand over his face as he waited for me to process everything. I had stayed quiet the entire time and had folded my arms across my chest as soon as Mort started telling me what Capstone had said._

_I usually only did it when I was angry, and I was practically boiling beneath my hat. It's a surprise I didn't have steam coming off my head as I sat trying to wrap my head around what Mort said. I didn't care what the town thought of me but what he said about Jess, well he crossed the line the minute he opened his mouth and started to spew lies. I never resort to violence, but I was almost tempted to change my mind. Right then there was nothing I would have liked more then to go find Capstone and punch him right in his lying, evil, black mustached, face._

_I don't think I had ever been this upset with someone. I couldn't think and I couldn't speak. I finally managed to collect enough of my wit to ask Mort "Where did he go?"_

_"I told you Slim, he left town 3 this morning, thank Heaven. He didn't say where he was going, and I was so darn happy to see him go that I didn't care." Mort stared, shocked, as I got up silently, and walked heavily to the door. He knew I was upset but I don't think he knew what to say to me. When I opened the door, he asked worry thick in his voice and plain upon his face. "What are you going to do-, Slim?_

_"I don't know Mort. He comes into our town and starts bad mouthing Jess and me. I don't care about me but talking about Jess like that is too much. I know Jess would say it isn't a big deal and he doesn't care- but he does, Mort. He cares more than he would ever admit to anyone. But if Capstone's gone, then there is nothing I can do. I'll just come back tomorrow and see if the people of Laramie still believe his lies._

_"If they do then me and you will have to knock some sense in them before Jess gets back." I turned around and smiled slightly at Mort's gaping mouth and astonished expression "What Mort, did you think I was going to go after him and knock him silly?" I quietly asked Mort. Most all my anger had left me when Mort asked me what I was going to do. He sounded like he thought I was going to go after Capstone._

_That wasn't my style and I had forgotten in my anger for a minute that I wasn't that kind of person. Yes, if Capstone ever showed his face again, I would punch him, hard. But I was more worried now about getting the town back to their senses. Jess had helped some of the people and most of the town knew him to some extent. I was just going to have to remind them that the type of person Jess was, was not the person that Capstone was blabbing about._

_Mort stood up and walked over to me where I stood, the doorknob in one hand._

_"No, Slim, I don't because that's not you." Mort smiled and I smiled back. We walked out together and headed to the bar to set the town straight. Almost the whole town believed Capstone's lies. It showed on their faces and as I rode on my way out of town their faces came back to my vision again and again. It wasn't disgust that had been on their faces but rather sympathy- as if I had been swindled by Jess and they felt sorry that I couldn't see the monster, they had been led to believe, Jess was. I spurred my horse making him go faster._

_It was the first time that I had wanted nothing more than to leave Laramie and never go back into town. Mort and I had failed, and I didn't know what to do. I was mad and upset before; now I was still upset, but sad too. Mike Capstone had made the people of Laramie turn against Jess and I didn't know why. Now he's gone and I would probably never find out why he did what he did. Revenge? Anger? Hate? I didn't know. At least not yet._


	6. Chapter 6

SLIM POV

I felt like my body was on fire from the inside out. I tried to open my eyes but with the pain I felt in response to trying, I wasn't in a rush. The darkness speckled with tiny dots seemed to swim before my closed eyes. I'm not a person who easily takes sick but when the spots swam faster and with my body feeling more and more like I was slow roasting over a fire, I couldn't take it anymore.

My eye lids popped open and I fell off a low bed which I had apparently been lying on and onto a hard, yet sweetly cool wooden floor. I lay there for a minute trying not to lose what tiny bit of food I had left in my stomach. The floors icy coldness helped to abate the fire which seemed to thrive in my skin. I rolled over upon my back slowly and let my stomach settle before even thinking of moving anywhere.

I gazed up at a wooden ceiling and realized that I was in a log cabin. A rather small one judging by how short the ceiling was from my position on the floor. The bed was on my left, so I turned my head to the right, trying to see what else was in this room besides the bed. There was a dresser that looked old and rather worn sitting against the wall which seemed to me to be only about 10 feet away.

I looked more downward where my feet were, and I saw what looked like the only door leading out of the room I was in. it was probably 15 feet away but I was too weak to lift myself up and sit then to get 15 feet to the door. I had to try though Jess's life depended on me and I wasn't about to let him down.

I felt in my aching bones and feverish, sweaty body that I wasn't going to be able to stand. So, I rolled back over on my stomach and started moving my body around so that I could crawl to the door. I first firmly planted my hands upon the floor then I pushed my upper torso off the ground. I started to smile at the success when sweat from the fever dripped down my arm and made one of my hands slip. I fell fast and a split second later I felt the edge of the bedpost crack into the side of my head.

 _I can't let Jess get to the ranch before me; they will kill him._ Then there was the darkness which by now I was very accustomed to. The little spots once again were dancing before my shut eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

Jess's POV

The wind was bitter cold and as I pulled back the stagecoaches' curtain that was useless against the cold, I could see the snow starting to fall. Little white specks floated through the air and gleamed when the moon peeked through the clouds. The stagecoaches' wheels spun round and round; little bits of newly fallen snow and dirt spewed out the back as the wheels sent them flying.

I was the last passenger on the stagecoach, so my feet were up on the bench opposite me and my arms folded across my chest hugging myself for warmth under the buffalo blanket that was draped over me. The horse's hoofs beat a familiar symphony to me as they hit the frozen ground. I rested my head back against the wall and, untucking one of my slightly warmed hands, I reached upward for my hat. I tipped it forward, so it was covering my eyes, a force of habit rather than necessity, and closed my weary eyes.

All those years of long hours on horseback came flooding back to me and replayed inside my eyelids. I could feel myself being drawn into the memories of old and as I slowly started to drift off, I wondered if Slim would be surprised that I would be back a day early. It had been too long since I had seen him.

A couple of years ago it would have seemed silly for me to miss someone I hadn't seen for just a week. Slim is the only one I completely trust with my life. I trust Mort completely too, but somehow not to the same degree. What Slim has formed with me is special. He knew what I was when he hired me and made a friend out of me.

We were probably about 10 miles away from the ranch, so I let myself slowly start to drift off to sleep. Almost smirking, I finally drifted off, thinking to myself what a different person I was now than back then. Man, I missed Slim.

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

Jess's POV

I was sleeping soundly when suddenly, my eyes were wide open, and I was lurching forward, my hat falling to the floor of the stagecoach with a soft thump. I looked around ready for anything, but nothing came. I relaxed my tense muscles and wondered why I woke up since the stage was still rolling smoothly and there was nothing going on. I relaxed again and drifted off again.

_Images and nonsense flashed before me and then it focused upon one certain man. He had a black droopy mustache, and he was laughing evilly. I stared, unable to move, unable to help as I saw he had something in his hand. It changed as he walked slowly towards me. It was a long piece of unraveled rope. Then the rope, all by itself, started to tie itself into a noose and the mustached man was hanging the noose off the limb of a giant tree._

_The image changed and I was in a prison cell. The man was still coming towards me slowly; except now he had a knife. A small knife, but the blade grinned at me as moonlight came through the barred windows lighting up the cool metal. He continued to come towards me as the weapon continually changed as did the background and circumstances._

_Sometimes we were outside, others inside, and there was one where we were underground in a cavern type of room. Finally, the images stopped changing and we were back at the ranch. He was still coming towards me. He was 2 feet away from me when he stopped and turned to his right; my left. He looked back at me his eyes icy and tainted a deep blood red color. His gaze was electric, and I could have sworn I saw luminescent green and various colored sparks coming at me from his eyes. He lifted his hand and sent chills down my spine when he pointed to the left of me. That was when I heard the muffled sounds coming from beside me._

_I looked over to my left slowly, fearfully, and what I saw heightened my fright a thousand-fold. It was Slim. He was gagged and bound to a chair. He was shaking with what I thought was fright. But as I continued to stare at him in horror, Slim started to turn blue. Icicles formed upon his clothes and his skin turned a light blue._

_I tried to tell Slim to run, to get free, anything, but nothing came out. I looked down and saw that I was bound and gagged too. I was helpless to help Slim and the mustached man was still standing just a few feet away from us. He was grinning so wickedly I couldn't look at him for fear that I would see in his eyes what he was going to do to Slim._

_My attention was diverted to Slim as his blue hued skin suddenly turned a bright red. Slim started to scream and although the gag muffled it was still the most awful sound, I have ever heard. The man went to him and I tried to scream out for Slim, but the gag pulled so tight against my mouth that I started to taste blood. I stopped trying, my heart pounding and collapsed back into the chair, helpless._

I jerked awake with a strangled yell of "Slim" caught in my throat. I closed my mouth and I started to shake with a cold sweat clinging onto my skin. I finally got the shaking under control and I took deep breaths to calm myself. But the images were still so fresh in my mind that I couldn't help it that my hands continued to tremble. The sigh of my usually rock steady hands shaking, threw me as I continued to stare at them in wonder. The driver yelled so I stuck my head out of the window and he told me that we were just a mile away from the ranch.

I yelled back at him "okay", then settled back in my seat. All the while my hands was still trembling, never stopping, and constantly bringing the vividly horrifying images of my nightmare to my mind again and again. I needed to see Slim so badly to make sure that he was okay that I couldn't sit still. The remaining mile felt like eternity until I saw the big sign that said Sherman Ranch.

I was so happy to be home, but something bothered me as the stagecoach rolled to a stop. The lights were off. I reasoned with myself that Slim didn't know that I was going to be back a day early so he was probably in bed. I climbed off the stagecoach, snow falling heavier by the minute. I asked the driver what time it was, and he yelled back that the best he could make out was that it was only 8 o clock.

The stage left and I waved before hurrying to the front door. "Shoot!" I quietly growled to myself when I tried the door, and it was locked. I checked my pockets for the key that Slim had given to me and to my utter dismay I remembered that I had forgotten it in my room. I knocked loudly trying to wake Slim up and hoping that he wasn't in town. I really didn't want to be out in the cold any longer than necessary. Slim usually doesn't go to bed until 10 o clock or so, I reasoned to myself and waited patiently for him to open the door. 10 minutes passed and no Slim had come and opened the door with a tired look in his eyes but a smile on his face when he saw that it was me.

With a strange feeling in my gut, I banged on the door again louder and yelled for Slim. The door finally creaked open but what was on the other side of the door was something out of a nightmare.


	9. Chapter 9

Slim's POV

The first thing that got my attention, as I groggily woke up with a pounding headache, was the sensation of something on me. I could feel the cool, soft fabric of what had to be a blanket covering my alternately burning and freezing skin.

"Well now young'un looks like you're waking up huh" The voice was rather high for a male and as I opened my eyes, I could see that he was rather old too. As my vision came into focus, I could see that he was slightly dirty with grime on his face and he had long grey- white hair with a beard to match. From what I could see, he was skinny but as he leaned closer I could the kindness that lived in his old brown eyes.

"Young'un can you hear me pardner?"

"I'm not that young unfortunately Mister?"

"Well compared to me sonny you're practically an infant. hee-hee" His high-pitched laugh made me smile then grimace as my head started to pound more fiercely.

"The name is Joziah Ebert Obenheimer… the 3rd." As he talked, Joziah put his hand on my burning forehead and pulled the sheets closer to my chin tucking it in. "I'm a miner you see. I have been my whole life. My daddy and my daddy's daddy were miners before me." Before he can speak further, I interrupt him. It's rude to interrupt other people I know but it had to be done. I had to get back and make sure that Jess didn't fall in Capstone's trap.

To do that I needed to know just where I was. "I'm sorry but, where am I?" my voice sounds weary as I feel. My eyelids are starting to feel heavy but the burning question in my mind far outweighs whatever I might be feeling. Just the thought that Jess could be walking into a trap at this very moment hurts me to my core- especially- since I could have prevented it. That Jess might be hurt, bleeding, kidnapped; like I was or worse.

It's just too much for my brain to comprehend. I'm turned away from my thoughts as I hear Joziah laugh. He laughs that oddly high-pitched laugh again and says

"Well, you're 'bout 25 miles away from Laramie sonny."

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N there will be descriptions of the aftermath of being beaten up. It isn't too graphic I think but if you really don't like that stuff then please don't read. Thank you😊

Jess's POV

_The nightmare was real. As real as the blood that dripped out of my mouth, slid down my head, and the sharp, biting pain that shot through my body as they had hit me over and over and over again. They had caught me off guard, pulled me into he house and thrown me to the ground. I was up in a flash but then the sucker punch came out of nowhere and I almost crumbled. But I fought the pain and remained upwards. That is, I remained upwards for all of 5 seconds before hit from behind and down, I went. The floor was hard and cold from the freezing air that seeped blew in freely from the still open door._

_The cold felt good though as it seeped through my clothes and touched my skin with its icy hand helping me fight against the sick feeling in my stomach I had after they had finished their merciless booted kicks. My head had hit the floor hard and I knew I was going to have a bump later. Half-unconscious, my thoughts were scattered to the corners of the earth and just as separated from them too. Breathe…. breathe…. just one breath at a time….in and out…. come on… I can do it…. I can do it…. Ohhh but it hurts…. it hurts bad…. no, NO…. just ignore it…. don't do it…. don't do it…._

_if I open my eyes what happens if it wasn't a dream?... what if it really is happening…. If Slim really is in trouble, then I must save him…. but my body hurts…. so bad…. Dang it Slim…. Where are you Partner? Don't worry… I'll find you… no matter…what. My mind now filled with images of Slim and some semblance of connected thoughts, biting back the pain and I drew myself out of the darkness and into reality._

I open my eyes against my own will and when I see my surroundings, I sigh. I'm home. The nightmare was indeed real and so was the harsh beating I had received. I moan as the dull pain I had been feeling starts to pound itself into a stabbing roar. I'm still curled up on the floor where they left me after they had finished kicking the tar out of me. I've gotten beaten up before, but this was the most vicious.

My lip is split in several places, some from punches and other where I my teeth had ripped through the skin as I had tried to deal with the pain. I can taste fresh blood coming from one of the ripped spots on my lips even as it trickles down my chin.

My jaw aches something awful where the first right hook caught me, almost sending me down. I try to get up and quickly realized I was hog tied, and it made me want to get even with them even more. My ribs felt like a horse had kicked them and it hurts just to breathe. My head slowly lessened its pounding, the roaring in my ears lessened and I started to hear myself breathe.

I was breathing raggedly from the sharp pain I got whenever I dared to breathe, and I knew that I must have at least a couple of bruised ribs. Groaning in agony I quickly assessed my injuries by moving my body slowly as much as the rope allowed me. From the way my ankle hurt and felt swelled against the tight rope. I probably have a slight sprain from the way I fell after I was hit from behind. If I looked at my chest, stomach, and my back I'm sure I would see a myriad of livid, colorful bruises.

Thankfully, nothing seemed to be broken. After I had made sure that I was basically alright, although I probably wouldn't want to move for a month, my mind turned back to the men who had done this to me.

I didn't know how long I had been out, but I knew that if they had done to Slim what they had done to me there would be no place on this Earth that they could hide where I wouldn't find them. Slim has done for me what no one else wanted or cared to do. He taught me how to appreciate life and he gave me a place to always call home. Most importantly he made me his friend and for that there is nothing for him I wouldn't do. With that in mind straining my eyes I see that the front door is closed and the men nowhere to be seen. Confused, relieves, anxious I mumble to myself "Where did they go?"

TBC


	11. Chapter 11

Jess's POV

Just as I'm thinking that now is my chance to try to get free of the ropes which bind me, I hear murmuring outside of the house I'm staring into the kitchen, longingly thinking about the knife we have in there for cutting food, when I hear feet shuffling outside the door.

I lay still and keeping my eye lids open just a slit I pretend to still be unconscious. I hear hoofbeats leading away from the house and the door opening. The mustached man comes inside, incredibly angry. Two other men start to follow him inside, but he stops them and tells them to keep watch outside. They obey like obedient dogs and the door closes, leaving me alone with the mustached man.

He takes a chair from the table a few feet away from me. Swiveling the back of chair around he sits in it. He is now facing me with his angry eyes but as he continues to stare at my limp frame the anger vanishes and gets replaced with a smile that peeps out from beneath his droopy mustache. He gets up and upon reaching the door, opens it and yells at one of the men.

I can't hear what he says but one of the men comes through the door with a large wooden bucket in his hands. Seconds later my eyes pop wide open and I'm sputtering as water drips off of me and onto the hardwood floor. I'm soaked through and must have swallowed a good amount of water, some going into my lungs, as I cough uncontrollably. I cough a little longer until the rest of the water which went into my lungs coughs up and laying my head back down on the now wet floor I can finally gasp greedily for air.

"You awake down there?" the mustached man asks, his face showing his pleasure in my discomfort. The cold, freezing water makes the aching bruises on my body come alive as if on fire. Not willing to let this beast of a man see my pain, I get my breathing under control and ask with a rasping voice.

"What do you want?"

"Ohhh, I'm hurt Jess! You mean you don't remember me? Why surely you must remember the man who you stabbed in the back and whom you stole 15 thousand dollars from." I could have sworn right then and there that I had never seen that man before. But when he mentioned 15 thousand dollars, I knew in a heartbeat who he was. The man who stood towering over my freezing, bloody and battered body was a very evil man whose name was Josh Heifer.

It must have been over 6 years ago that I had been in a jail over a little hassle I had with a couple of men who were cheating at cards. I was hotheaded back; then just a tiny spark could send me or my fists flying. I landed up in jail when a fight broke out in the bar when I won at cards and proved that the men were cheating at cards. I had stayed in jail for a couple of days-cooling off when the sheriff being an old and sympathetic, man decided that I was more trouble than I was worth and let me go.

Thinking back on it, I wish the sheriff hadn't let me go. Because what happened next was bad, so bad; that I wince just thinking back on it.

TBC


	12. Chapter 12

Jess's POV

My time of remembering the past was cut off before it had a chance to begin. A horse whinnying outside caught my attention and brought my dread of what would come through the door to a popping, blaring fire inside of my chest. It must have shown on my face because Josh smirked. Then getting up from the chair he walked, what seemed to me to be, so slowly to the door.

I lifted my head, but the windows were too high up for me to see anything. As the horse got nearer, the sound of wagon wheels split through the air as it came rolling up, squeaking and grunting with age, stopping at the front porch. I lay my head back down and started to struggle with the rope that tied my hands and kept me from defending myself.

Normally my body and muscles could stand up against pretty much anything but this time they failed me. I couldn't get them to work, not even to try and get myself into a sitting position although it would have been pretty much impossible to do since I was hog tied. But knowing that even if I was able to get free that my muscles wouldn't support me, messed with my confidence that I was going to get free somehow.

Josh and his men had worked me over well. I hadn't eaten for half a day when I rolled up to the house in the stagecoach and I hadn't had any water for the same amount of time. I didn't know how long I had been unconscious after the beating, but I knew that I was as thirsty as a horse in a dusty, gritty desert.

My wandering thoughts were thrown out the window as Josh opened the door and the backside of one of his men came walking backwards through the door. My heart stopped when I saw two men carrying something long in a blanket that was swinging low as they carried it. A hand fell away out from the blanket and in an ice-cold minute the fact hit me, it was a person. A thought struck me. What if it was Slim? I shook the thought from my mind. It isn't him I told myself I would have recognized his hand. Still the fear that it might be clung to me like a wet blanket, suffocating my hope that it wasn't Slim.

I wouldn't be able to bear it if Slim had been beaten the way I had been. I've been beaten before so I know that I can take just about everything. But Slim; Slim is just as good-no even better than I am. But I don't know if he would ever be able to shake the kind of beating, I had been given. I held my breath and got it jolted out of my body as the two men dropped the blanketed person onto the floor only 2 feet away from where I lay.

The blanket slowly fell from the person and revealed the persons face to me. So many things flashed through my mind as the blanket took it's time falling. But my mind cleared itself as fast as a street does when a gunfight starts except for thoughts of what if.

What if was Slim beaten and bloodied like me? or dead? Shaking those thought free once more I focused. If Slim had been hurt like me when we would get out of this mess together and I would help Slim get through it. The blanket finally fell off all the way and with a voice that sounded so strangled with worry and relief that I didn't recognize it as my own I whispered.

"Slim!"

TBC


	13. Chapter 13

Jess's POV

Slim's face was soaked in sweat and from the way he squeezed his eyes shut I could almost feel the pain he was in as his head rolled back and forth in the throes of what I guessed to be fever. I got a glimpse of a big, nasty gash on the back of his head. The blood was a large amount, but head wounds bleed fiercely and usually look a lot worse than they are. Unfortunately, I had firsthand experiences that taught me that.

The blood had dried, clinging to his golden hair, staining it dark. I looked away from Slim's face just for a second to catch my breath. I drew a deep breath; my aching ribs protesting but the pain they gave me felt almost good. Other than the cut on his head and his fever, he looked okay. I couldn't see any visible marks, but any possible bruises and cuts might lay under his shirt and I wouldn't know about them until we got free.

Slim's head became still and I turned my head to him. I had yet to see Slim's blue eyes ever since he had been dropped on the floor and that had been some time ago. The lights were still on and a man was sitting in a chair by the door guarding us. Josh had gone into mine and Slim's room to sleep I guessed. I heard digging sounds outside and wondered what Josh's men were doing.

I stared at Slim. It made me feel better knowing that my friend was alive and apparently not too seriously hurt. I watched as his chest went up and down, up, and down and… Slim's chest didn't go back up. He wasn't breathing. He wasn't breathing! My own breath got faster and faster as I stared, praying for his chest to start going up and down again, willing Slim to breath.

Nothing. I yelled for Slim to wake up. Nothing. I yelled louder waking up the guard in the process.

"What's all the racket?"

"He's not breathing. You have to do something!"

"What's going on in here?" Josh had been awoken by the voices and he appeared from the bedroom. He had his gun in one hand and was running his other hand through his hair. The guard had come over to Slim and put his hand on Slim's chest.

"Boss, this one isn't breathing." The guard's words drew Josh's glare from me to Slim.

"Well Jessie that's too bad about that." I winced at being called Jessie. The name brought back a dreadful time in my past and even worse things I wanted to forget.

"There must be something you can do Josh." I said through gritted teeth.

"Why should I Jess? Huh? Give me one good solid reason to save your weakling friend. He should die! After all he killed one of my men who is now buried out in your yard. So, it's only fair that he should die too don't yah think?" Josh's tone of voice changed constantly ranging from calm, to maniacal, to hateful and sickening pleasure as if he enjoyed it all. I wasn't sure how to convince Josh to save Slim. How does someone negotiate with an insane person?

The most beautiful sound reached my ears as Slim suddenly gasped for air. He lay there gasping for a bit before it slowed back down, and his chest once again went up and down just like nothing had happened.

"Well, that was exciting wasn't it?"

If I had been free from the ropes and not as hurt as I was then I would have punched Josh. Slim had almost died or he did, but he came back thankfully.

"He needs a Doc, Josh."

"Unless you're a Doc now Jessie how could I do that?"

"Take him to the Doc in Laramie."

Josh laughed at my suggestion and came closer to me. He squatted down beside my head and said, with pure hatred in his eyes, "Beg for it."

He pulled back the hammer of his gun and swung it around till it was pointing at Slim's head. The barrel of the gun was inches from Slim's face. "Beg for your friend's life just like I begged for Charlotte to come back to me." For a second I saw just a glimpse of such deep sorrow, guilt, and hatred which was inside of Josh. It was all gone the next second except for the hate.

"You stole my money, you betrayed me, and you stole my woman from me! Beg for his life JESS HARPER. BEG FOR IT!"

TBC


	14. Chapter 14

Slim's POV

A voice I thought I wouldn't hear again exploded into my ear as I slowly drew myself out of the perpetual darkness I had been clouded in. The last thing I could remember was trying to escape from a room and I fell. An image of an old man, a miner I think, came to mind but I couldn't place it. Jess's voice spoke again, and I realized that he wasn't yelling it was just my head splitting with pain that made his voice seem so loud.

Sounds seemed close one second then the next so far away. I was struggling to keep myself from going back to the darkness. I felt weak and that was unusual and slightly frightening to me. I don't like to feel weak though I can take nursing back to health way better than Jess can. But just because I don't mind being looked after when I'm sick doesn't mean that I like being vulnerable and therefore unable to protect Jess.

We'd rather take a bullet for each other than see the other get hurt. So, the feeling I have of missing strength is frightening not for my safety but because it means if something were to happen, I couldn't help Jess. Exactly like the circumstances I'm in right now.

As I drew myself farther from the darkness and towards the light, I could feel that my muscles were weak, that there was something wrong with me, and the utter dread that if I ever saw Jess again and something had happened to him it would be on me.

Head pounding, heart racing from the exertion, I opened my eyes and found myself staring at the barrel of someone's six-shooter. Jess's voice came strong and clear from my right, but I was transfixed by the gun glinting at me in the lamplight. I blinked but it was still there staring at me like… I don't know what, but I couldn't take my eyes off of it. I wasn't scared of the gun and that was something that scared me.

I've always disliked guns. Always. But growing up out here you had to learn fast and then there was the Army. Probably seems strange to dislike guns and yet I carry one everywhere I go. When I was 14 and my father was showing me how to shoot, I told him that I feared guns. My father told me that was a good thing that a gun can be your friend or your enemy. He sat beside me and told me that fear of guns keeps a man from becoming too fond of them and what they can do.

The steel still glared at me flinging light at my face. It me drew me from my thoughts and Jess's words started with register with me.

"I ain't going to say it. You can shoot me but leave Slim out of it." Jess said it through gritted teeth that almost shook from the sheer power it took not to scream in agony as his body ached to the bone.

"What's…. going…. on?" The wonderful sound reached Jess's ears in the form of Slim's slow voice interrupted by short gasps of breath and a small grunt of pain.

"Slim? Slim! Partner are you okay?" Jess almost couldn't get the words out he was so elated that his friend was awake and talking.

"Jess" Slim said without turning to look at his friend but a smile flicked across his cracked lips, his eyes glued still to the gun pointed at him and repeated his question "What's going…on Jess?"


	15. Chapter 15

Jess's POV

The sound of Slim's voice though hoarse and almost cracking slightly was still music to my ears.

"Slim, Slim are you okay?" I didn't like the way that Slim lay beside me sort of gasping like he was a fish out of water. His eyes seemed to be glued to the gun that was still pointed at his head and I got mad. "You mind?" I snapped angrily to Josh before recoiling inwardly because for a second I had forgotten that Josh could still pull the trigger. Josh looked at me and gave me an evil looking lopsided grin. The type a wolf gives to its cornered prey.

He twirled the gun that was still a million times too close to Slim and my heart stopped for a second when Josh in twirling the gun put his finger on the trigger. I inwardly cringed when Josh burst out laughing and shook his head at me with an expression that said that Slim's life wasn't worth a blade of grass in his eyes.

I scowled at Josh but kept my mouth silent not wanting Josh to put on another gun-twirling show and maybe next time pull the trigger. I say anything to Josh for fear of Slim's safety but inside of me I was burning up with white hot anger. My mind was taken off Josh when Slim turned his head ever so slightly and the movement caught my eye. I looked at him and like a rain that washed away the heat on a summer day, my anger washed away. Slim is the only one who could ever really calm me down when I get going. I really wanted to get the gun out of Slim's face.

So, in hopes of getting Slim away from Josh's gun I said, "Slim is no good to you dead Josh. You kill Slim and you lose your leverage with me. so why not get the gun out of his face huh?." Through some miracle I was able to keep my voice even and calm something that I always had trouble with. He laughed at me for a minute and Slim taking his eyes away from the gun once again turned his head towards mine and looked at me with confused and somewhat frustrated eyes. His blue eyes locked onto my face I realized that he had said something earlier. Racking my brain, I remembered, and froze.

Did I have the strength to tell my best friend that the reason this whole thing was happening was because of me? How could I look into his eyes and say I had gotten him involved in another of my mistakes? My eyes locked onto his and I just stared, trying to draw from the immeasurable strength that he had. Slim has the kind of strength that one draws from the inside and not the out.

A smile twitches my mouth because Slim is patient to a fault and if he wasn't on the floor beside me, I would have already blown up at Josh about 10 times over. Slim had lent me his patience and for that I was grateful.

Unlocking our eyes from each other, turning my head, and stared at the ceiling ashamed. I told Slim everything. I'm not really one to mince words so I told Slim as bluntly as possible and fast; just wanting it to be over with. I told him the tale of how me and Josh found our lives intertwined with each other.

"I had been in jail for a couple of days when the sheriff let me go. This was about 6 years ago, Slim. I was even more hotheaded then when you met me. Anyway, I thought the sheriff was letting me go out of kindness, pity, I didn't know what. It turned out that as soon as I went through the sheriff's door and onto the sidewalk my arm was grabbed by a Marshal. The Marshal led me back into the sheriff's office and wordlessly the sheriff left when the Marshal nodded at him. He told me that there was a gang that was running around hitting banks. During the last robbery they had savagely beaten one of the clerks and killed the stagecoach driver who had been in the bank and had been able to rip off one of the robber's masks.

"They had to be stopped he told me. I asked why he was telling me all of this. He said that he had heard of a gun slinging kid who was starting to get himself a reputation as being very quick. He wanted me to join the gang and learn where they were going to hit next so they could capture the gang. I gave him a flat-out no. He just smirked at me, raised his eyebrows, and told me that there was a reward for the capture of the gang. I told him that I hated bounty hunters and was never going to do the dirty work that they did for money.

"He had raised his eyebrows at that and asked me how I could hate what I already was. I had frozen at the last part and the smile on his face had gotten bigger and he told me that he knew that I had been a bounty hunter. He told me that he knew all about what I had done and good at it I had been. He told me that there was a 10-thousand-dollar reward on the gang. I told him that I wasn't going to do it for money. He looked shocked told me happily that if that was what I wanted then fine.

I stopped and faced Slim amazed eyes and said "I had become a bounty hunter Slim, because a very, very close person to me was murdered. I became a bounty hunter because I had needed to learn the skills to have a showdown with the person who murdered that person. But while I was hunting the murderer and getting bounty's I learned what a bounty hunters' life was genuinely like and I hated it, every last part of it.

"I eventually found the murderer though and it turned out that he had a bounty on his head. We had a showdown, and he was killed. I collected on the bounty and even though I had lawfully avenged the person's death I felt dirty and lowly because after avenging their death I had collected money on it. Almost as if I didn't really care that bringing the murder to justice mattered at all. All I seemed to have cared about was how much the bounty was. I didn't want to be like that so I quit Slim and I promised myself to never bounty hunt again. But the gang the Marshal had talked about were murders and they need to be stopped. Knowing that I was going to be going after a murderer once again strangely didn't feel wrong. I had figured that if I didn't collect money on it then my promise to myself wouldn't be broken. I had thought that maybe just that once even though I hated it I would bring them to justice but this time not for money but because it was the right thing to do.

"Two weeks later I was in the gang. We pulled a stagecoach robbery that I made sure the Marshal knew about and he made sure that there were no passengers. After that, they sort of trusted me and decided since they had recently become one man short I would be in on the next bank robbery. The leader of the gang was Josh, Slim. He had a girl, and her name was Charlotte." Josh's gasp as I said her name drew my attention. He stretched up from his squat and stepping over Slim to me he backhanded me across the mouth. I was stunned for a second but thankfully it was a rather weak hit but still hurt like heck because of y other bruises and aching jaw. I waited until Josh stepped back with eyes that glared evil at me but also if he wasn't a complete monster had a hint of tears in them the next moment though the hint of tears was completely gone, the evil intent in his eyes had simmered down and he walked away from us and over to the kitchen table and sat down as if giving me permission to continue on with my tale. So I continued though in a much lower voice this time.

"Anyway, she ah started to get the wrong idea about me. She started to think that I liked her. She was very pretty but I told her I wasn't interested. The last thing I needed was to get involved with the leader's girl. When she threatened to tell Josh that I had come onto her, I told her to go ahead. She was angry when she went back to Josh. I didn't know what she actually told him, if anything at all, but I waited up all night ready to take Josh on if he came after me.

"Apparently, she had said nothing, but she kept a close eye on me, and I wasn't able to get away to tell the Marshal which bank we were supposed to rob. The day of the robbery came, and I was able to meet the Marshal. Unfortunately, Charlotte followed me. Anyway, she overheard everything, but she tripped when she tried to leave, and we caught her.

"The Marshal took her to the jail while I went back to the gang. We rode into town the next day for the robbery. There was no sign of the Marshal and his me as we were backing our way out of the bank with around 15 thousand dollars. We had just stepped outside when...

"Josh started firing; the Marshal and his men started to fire back. We were pinned down. I wasn't shooting though, using the excuse that my gun was jammed.

"Suddenly, I heard Charlotte's voice. I peered over the top of the water trough that I was hiding behind and saw Charlotte running towards the bank. She yelled to Josh that I was a backstabber, but he didn't hear her.

"I yelled at her to get back, but she ignored me and continued running towards Josh. She was halfway there trying to tell him I was a traitor when a bullet struck her. Both sides stopped firing, stricken that she had been hit. Josh had finally taken notice of Charlotte at the exact moment that she was hit and with a scream fell to the ground. He had stared at her for a moment then screaming her name savagely at her had dropped his saddle bags and jumped onto his horse hightailing it. The rest of the gang gave themselves up without much resistance.

"The Marshal shook my hand in thanks and then told me that I had better beat it before Josh came after me. The Marshal formed a posse and went after Josh, but they never found him. The money was returned to the bank and I left. I haven't returned there to this day. Sometimes I can still see Charlotte lying there in the street, blood soaking through her dress and Josh's wild almost animal like scream in my ears."

"You took her from me. You killed her!" Josh's eyes were frantic and his voice loud as he had apparently heard the last part of the story even though I had kept my voice as low and quiet as I could not wanting Josh to do something rash like hurting Slim.

"Did you not hear a word of what I said!" my eyes flashing once again with that same anger in them and then again, I lowered my voice but continued. "I didn't fire a single bullet. She got caught in the crossfire. It was no one's fault."

"No, no-see that's where you are wrong Jessy boy. YOU were the reason she was in jail. YOU were why she was trying to tell me what you truly were. YOU got her killed. I thought you were just a traitor but after hearing your pitiful little story I realized something. YOU were going to betray me from the beginning. You…You were going to run away with her, weren't you? What kind of person takes another man's girl?"

"I would never take another man's woman." I said bitingly.

"Doesn't matter now though does it? She just would have had to been cut in on the money now." My eyes glancing back and forth between Slim who was still processing everything and Josh's maniacal face, I said.

"What do you mean money now? There is no money. The Marshal gave it all back to the bank."

"Well then Jessy, my lad" Josh said while he wiped his eyes on the back of his hand and sniffed really hard "Guess what. We get to have a do over on the at last nasty little bank job. We're going to rob the Laramie bank tomorrow and if you don't comply, I'll kill your friend.

"So, cowboy" Josh's drooping mustache went up as he smiled, and his yellowed teeth came into view "What do you say huh? Will you give our little friendship another try? Except this time there won't be a Charlotte for you take from me." Josh laughed a little at the end. I knew for certain right then and there that Josh had gone insane.

TBC!


	16. Chapter 16

Jess's POV

Josh retired to Slim and my room, leaving us to lay there in silence. The lamp had been dimmed but a fire had been started in the fireplace so we weren't cold and if I squinted some, I could still make out Slim's face. He hadn't spoken to me after my story of the past and I was worried.

He wasn't truly gasping anymore but if I stilled my thoughts and listened hard, I could hear him wheeze just a tad. I slept some but was awoken by pains that seemed to burn though I didn't move. I groaned and didn't realize how loud it was until I heard Slim's voice softly ask

"Are you okay Jess?"

"Yeah, I'm fine" I say with a slight grunt as the pain had dulled but I still ached something awful.

"I know you aren't downplaying to me, right, Jess?" I smile the ever slightest at the gentle suspicion evident in his question. Slim fortunately or unfortunately for me, depends on how you look at it, has become an expert at knowing when I say I'm fine but I'm not really.

"You hurt bad?" Slim's concern has grown and shows in his voice as I think how lucky I am to have a friend that cares that much about me.

"mmm they beat me up pretty rough I guess" I confessed as my aches seem to dull even more as talking with Slim helps take my mind from my numerous injuries.

"Where did they get you?" Slim asked.

Thinking fast I realize that I didn't ask if Slim got hurt.

"Tell me what happened to you first" Slim grunts in annoyance and I can't help but smile, though the motion causes a wave of pain from my bruised jaw.

Slim grunts again and says "Well, I got hit in the head, kidnapped, and tied up. Then I escaped and was out in the cold for a day and night without shelter, water, food, or fire. I got a fever from being out in the cold for so long, but I think it's pretty much gone. Fell twice and hit my head twice if I remember correctly. So, not too bad considering." My lack of response wasn't voluntary as I slowly tried to grasp everything that had happened to him.

"I'm sorry Slim" I said as I tried to not drown in the ocean of guilt that tried to overwhelm me.

"Don't be Jess. You couldn't have known all of this was going to happen. I would be kind of mad though if you did and didn't tell me" I laugh and I can almost hear Slim's smile in the darkened room. "Whatever you are feeling right now Jess it can't be guilt or shame. Six years ago, you took down a gang of murders even though you wanted nothing to do with it. You put your own personal feeling about bounty hunting into perspective and decided not to take the money like last time but to do it for justice.

"I think that shows just how much you had grown after you stopped bunty hunting. The Marshal sure was lucky to have found you Jess back then. I don't think other people could have done what you did and not collected on the reward or taken advantage of the situation to their advantage. You were helping people even before I met you and that makes me proud of you, Jess.

"You did not know or even dream that Josh was going to come back. What you did back then was good Jess and even the idea of putting this mess on you makes me sick.

"Now tell me - how bad off are you?" Slim's voice was as soft as I have ever heard it. I list my injuries to him, and we talk back and forth for a while until I ask him a question and all I hear I silence. A small snore reaches my ears and I know that Slim is fast asleep.

Exhaustion soon overtakes me as well and sleep claims me for the rest of the night.


	17. Chapter 17

Slim's POV

I groan as I slowly come around to consciousness. My head is fuzzy, and my chest hurts something awful but thankfully not as much as it hurt before. I remember talking to Jess and drifting off to sleep. I'm awoken by quiet arguing and when I open my eyes the sun is streaming through the half-window and hitting my face. I may feel like my entire body aches but at least I feel something.

When I was out in the cold, I remember pretty much not being able to feel anything. The pain though harsh, is a pretty much welcome relief because as least I know I am alive. I tun my head to where Jess was last night, and worry fills me when he isn't there. Murmuring for the kitchen catches my attention again and I strain my ears trying to decipher who is talking. Trying to move my hands I find that they are tied very tightly together.

Relief fills me as I recognize Jess's voice and then disgust as I recognize the man who Jess called Josh although I knew him by another name- which obviously was fake. Something about making Jess rob a bank with Josh floats into my mind. So maybe Josh was outlining he pan to Jess. Still, I wonder why they untied Jess and let him into the kitchen? As I was debating whether to find out if I was allowed or even had the strength to get up, one of Josh's men opened the door in a rush, blowing in freezing wind and tiny snowflakes with him. He walked past me towards the kitchen and noticing that I was awake he stopped for a second then grinning continued walking into the kitchen while saying.

"Hey Josh that other fellow is awake."

A chair scrapes and then footsteps came out of the kitchen towards me. The person stands behind my head, but I can't tell if they are looking at me because whoever it is, I refuse to look at them. Rather I avert my eyes toward the wall that was at my feet. After a minute or so I hear the person chuckle and walk back into the kitchen. I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding. I hear murmuring and then the unmistakable voice of Josh yell.

"Sherman, get into the kitchen." I tried to get up, just to sit up but my body, though better than yesterday refused to cooperate. It also didn't help that my hands were tied together so I couldn't use them. So, I lay there wondering where in the heck Jess is. "Boy, if I don't see you in three seconds your friend here isn't going to look so pretty. Not with a hole in his head." I gritted my teeth and this time I rolled over on my stomach and scrunching myself up I managed to sit up.

Slowly I stood up and wavered as black spots decided to speckle my vision. They passed though and I slowly started to walk the short distance to the kitchen. As I walked my muscles seemed to unwind themselves and that felt good. Arriving in the kitchen I saw Josh, sitting at the table, stuffing his face with a hot breakfast. Also, at the table wearing a scowl was Jess, his still tied hands lying on the table in front of him beside an untouched breakfast.

"A second longer and your friend here would have bit it." Josh said spitting food out of his mouth in the process. Disgusted I turned my attention to Jess, and he looked back at me asking me with his eyes if I was okay. I nodded ever so slightly, and a smile ghosted the ends of his mouth before returning to his earlier scowl at Josh. "Jessy boy, why doesn't Sherman grab seat and watch us eat a hot meal?" Jess threw a disgusted look at Josh and didn't any anything.

"Boss man told you to sit down." The man who had walked past me apparently had been at the stove and now was standing beside me with a gun pointed at my stomach. I walked over to the empty chair by Jess and grabbing the back of it, I pulled the chair out. Before I had a chance to lower myself into the chair I was roughly pushed by the man with the gun into the chair. I knocked against Jess and lost my breath for a second from the force of it.

Jess nudged me and I sat up straight, now fixing my own glare at Josh. Everything started to happen so fast that afterwards I could barely remember what happened. I was sitting in a chair at the kitchen table glaring at Josh then the man by the stove says something about seeing people sneaking through the hills outside. Josh curses and runs to the window while me and Jess take the opportunity to use Josh's knife to cut our ropes.

The backdoor bursts open with Mort and a deputy barging into the house. As the man with Josh reached for his gun, Jess threw the knife, hitting him in the arm, surprise and pain causing the man to scream out. Josh used the opportunity to escape; opening the door behind him and starting to run. My hurt body forgotten I scramble out of the chair and run after Josh. Jess demanding Mort's gun rang in my ears. The freezing wind buffets and whips around me as I run after Josh who is headed for the barn.

I reach the open barn door and too late I realize that I have no weapon. I go slowly on the alert for Josh, but an arm snags my neck from behind and the cold sound of the hammer cocking on a gun stops my struggling. His breath hits my neck and I jab him in the stomach to try to get free. He grunts in pain but tightens his hold on my neck. Since I'm taller than he is, I'm kind of bent backwards and as his arm hugs my neck harder, I start to see spots and choke for air.

He pushes me towards the open barn door, and I see Jess coming out of the house. He sees us and starts towards us. Josh starts to breath faster and yells to Jess with a maniacal sound in his voice

"You took away the only one who understood me. Now you'll finally understand what that feels like." It took a second for Jess to hear what Josh said over the wind and realize what he meant. Jess's eyes go wide and forgetting about the borrowed gun in his hand runs towards me screaming "No" just as a gun fires behind me and feeling heavy I fall forward.


	18. Chapter 18

Jess's POV

My mind repelling the horror that is happening in front of me, I skid to a stop in shock. Move! My brain screams at me. Run! I want to continue but I-I can't. Do SOMETHING! My heart yells at me and jumps into my throat. But my body wont budge. I'm frozen. Stuck staring as my best friend's body falls forward, collapsing to the ground. I'm too late.

Something inside of me snaps when I hear the heart stopping thud of Slim's body smacking into the frozen lightly snow dusted ground. Pushing through my horror I continue racing to where Slim has fallen. I fall to my knees dropping my gun and turn his body over.

"Slim? Slim?" I shake him gently, tears threatening to start forming in my eyes, but the most wonderful pair of blue eyes open and try to focus on my face.

"Jess?" Slim's confused and mumbled words are like music to my ears. I lean back sitting on my legs and keeping one hand on Slim's shoulder I breath deeply trying to get myself under control.

"I thought I lost you partner. I really thought I lost you." Something akin to a grunted chuckle comes from Slim and when I look at him confused, he half smiling with mirth and half grimacing in pain.

"Can't get rid of me that easily Jess." He says.

I chuckle because it sounds vaguely like something I would say.

"Jess?"

"Yeah Slim?" I say as Sheriff Mort Cory and his deputies appear with the rest of Josh's gang in cuffs or tied up.

"Why am I not dead?" Slim's question shocks me. Lying just a few feet away is Josh's dead body, a bullet in his back.

A high male voice calls to us before I get a chance to answer him.

"Did I get him?" Slim grunts and I help him to a sitting position.

"Are you hurt Slim?" He checks himself over and winces slightly when he moves his right shoulder.

"I think I twisted my shoulder when I went down but I don't feel any new." I look at him, worried, and he gives me a quick smile "I'm okay, Jess."

"Say did yah fellows hear me? Did I get the varmint?" Called the voice again.

Slim's face is shocked for a minute but he answers slowly.

"You got him old timer. You got him good and saved my hide in the process." The man had a long whitish-grey tangled beard and hair in the back to match it as he walked the rest of the way from the barn and came over to us.

"Yup that guy is dead. I'm just glad I hit the varmint and not you sonny." When the man said "sonny", Slim's eyes lit up in recognition. With a little of my help he stood up and spoke

"You're the miner that helped me!" The miner looked pleased that Slim remembered and with a mouth full of slightly crooked teeth he smiled and said.

"Yep, that was me! Do you remember my name, sonny? When you were at my place ya fell and hit your head pretty hard." The old man's eyes twinkled with concern and I decided that he seemed okay. Especially since he helped Slim.

"Umm, I think it was Joziah Ebert?" Slim replied.

Joziah smiled even wider and pushing his unbuttoned winter coat open and hitching his thumbs behind his faded blue suspenders says.

"That's right young'un! Name is Joziah Ebert the 3rd."

"The 3rd?" I ask with a slight smirk on my face. "You mean there were two other Joziah Ebert's before you?" I chuckle quietly and the miner glares at me for a second before he bursts out laughing and slapping his knee says between guffaws.

"Your right funny; you are young'un." We slowly start to walk to where Mort and the others standing. Slim and I walked close together, glad that neither of us were dead.

Me and Slim found out later that when he had been at Joziah's home, he had been delirious and from what Joziah had heard he knew that Slim was in trouble. He didn't want to leave Slim, but he knew that he needed to get the Sheriff. So, he went for the sheriff and Josh's men had found the cabin and got Slim. Joziah rode hard and finally made it to Laramie. All it took from Joziah was that some fellow Slim was in a bad way at his cabin and that some other fellow named Jess seemed to be in trouble too. Mort had asked for a description and he knew that it was indeed Slim. Joziah led them back to his cabin but when they found it empty Mort led them to the ranch.

Joziah apologized to Slim, saying he wouldn't have left him. But Slim stopped him; thanking him saying that if he hadn't left and gotten the Sheriff, he would have ended up dead. In the end everything worked out. It took a couple of weeks for all our injuries to heal but they did. My ankle took a week longer though because I had sprained it bad and then hurt it worse when I ran to Slim.

Funny how things like that work. When I ran towards Slim, I couldn't even feel the pain from my ankle, my jaw or anything else. My only thought was for my best friend. I guess it could have been the adrenaline, but deep down I think it was because Slim is like a brother to me -and my family comes before anything else- even my own pain.

Slim's POV

All I could think about from the moment I was kidnapped was what if Jess were hurt? When I finally woke up at the ranch and saw Jess, I was so relieved that I had found him. I remember that when Josh yelled that he was going to kill me and I could feel his gun in my back, the only thought on my mind was _Jess can't lose another family member._

Jess has lost so much in his life. From the day that I finally knew in my heart that Jess was going to stay and that he was my friend, I promised myself that no matter what, he wasn't going to lose me. Josh was going to make me break my promise and that killed me. When I opened my eyes and saw Jess's blurry face it was the most wonderful sight in my life. Jess still and will always have me.

Jess and Slim's POV

After all isn't that what brothers are for? To help each other rise from the dust, and find their way back to their home? To rescue each other when in the dead of winter, they find themselves hurt, separated and caught in Winters Grasp?

Yes, that's what we believe brothers do. We are brothers who would do all of that for each other no matter what. We have each other's backs. Besides if we didn't have each other who would there be to annoy or make smile? Who would cheer each other up when one is 'down'? As the sky is blue, we are happy that we are best friends, partners, and brothers at heart.

THE END!

A giant thank you to Saddletramp who revising this would have been impossible and Nakoosay for believing that I could make the story even better.

Saddletramp and Nakoosay are on fanfiction.com 


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